Divided Loyalties of Health Professionals. (Divided Loyalties: Professional Standards and Military Duty‪)‬

I. INTRODUCTION Health professionals, in routine practice, often have obligations to other parties beside their primary patients. Such divided loyalties between professional duties to the patient and obligations to the interests of a third party, whether express or implied, real or perceived, are not uncommon. And for some medical specialties, such divided loyalties are inescapable. For example, organ transplant physicians are obligated both to their individual patients, as well as to the larger community of those listed and waiting for an organ. (1) And obstetricians are obligated to both mother and fetus. (2) Thus, when either the mother or fetus is medically compromised, the practitioner must balance the conflicting obligations to both patients. Such examples are well-worn and come with clear guidelines that have been developed over time, and are often adopted by professional societies to assist practitioners in managing the opposing concerns. (3)